Europe Must Fully Cooperate with Trump’s Ukraine Peace Efforts Trump pressures Zelensky for peace in Ukraine as Europe pushes its own plan, risking a split in negotiations. By Fred Fleitz
https://amgreatness.com/2025/03/07/europe-must-fully-cooperate-with-trumps-ukraine-peace-efforts/
Although a ceasefire to stop the killing in Ukraine appeared closer this week after Ukrainian President Zelensky sent President Trump a letter promising to cooperate with his peace efforts, European states are floating several unhelpful proposals that could hurt the peace process.
Zelensky was supposed to sign a deal at the White House last Friday, giving the U.S. access to his country’s rare earth mineral deposits. However, Zelensky’s insistence on first resolving other issues and his rude behavior during an Oval Office meeting with President Trump and Vice President Vance caused him to be booted from the White House and his relationship with Trump to break down.
This relationship breakdown led President Trump to say for the second time in a week that if Zelensky continued to resist his efforts to negotiate a ceasefire, he might walk away from the conflict. Tensions grew further when Zelensky said on March 3 that the end of the war with Russia was “very, very far away,” a comment that irritated Trump because it appeared to be a jab at his peace efforts. Also on March 3, President Trump paused U.S. military aid to Ukraine to pressure Zelensky to support his peace efforts.
Tensions between Zelensky and Trump appeared to improve by March 4 after the Ukrainian leader sent a conciliatory letter to Trump in which he agreed to work under President Trump’s leadership and “come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer.” Zelensky said he was prepared to agree to “a truce in the sky—ban on missiles, long-ranged drones, bombs on energy, and other civilian infrastructure—and truce in the sea immediately, if Russia will do the same.”
Zelensky also said Ukraine was prepared to sign a deal giving the US preferential access to Ukraine’s natural resources and minerals at “any time and in any convenient format.”
During his address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, President Trump expressed his appreciation for Zelensky’s letter. U.S. and Ukrainian officials said the next day that discussions were underway on the date and location of a new round of formal U.S.-Ukraine negotiations.
Europe’s positions on stopping the fighting in Ukraine have been inconsistent and somewhat unhelpful. In meetings at the White House with President Trump last week, French President Macron and UK Prime Minister Stamer dropped their previous constant criticism of Trump’s Ukraine peace efforts and said they were prepared to support these efforts.
European leaders quickly embraced Zelensky after his disastrous White House visit at a meeting with the Ukrainian leader in London on March 2. French and UK leaders said after the meeting that they would form a “coalition of the willing” to bring peace to Ukraine and would prepare a peace plan for President Trump. There was some talk that European leaders thought the breakdown in U.S.-Ukraine relations threatened America’s relationship with Europe and that the U.S. could no longer be seen as a reliable ally.
The French/UK peace plan is expected to include a one-month truce and their previous proposal to send peacekeepers from the UK, France, and other European states to Ukraine. This is consistent with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s statement at the Munich Security Conference that the U.S. supported deploying European and non-European peacekeepers to monitor and verify a ceasefire.
However, in addition to deploying peacekeepers, Ukrainian and European leaders want to create “security assurances.” This would include a deterrence force that would respond militarily to any Russian violations of a ceasefire. According to members of two leading European think tanks, this force would be comprised of European troops, deployed to Ukraine, and sent without Russia’s consent.
Such a deterrence force would be inconsistent with the concept of peacekeeping, which is only deployed with the full consent of warring parties. It also seems inevitable that Russia will not agree to a ceasefire if such a force is to be deployed because Moscow will not agree to the deployment of NATO combat troops in Ukraine. Russia may also not agree to UK or French troops serving as peacekeepers.
Moreover, some Trump officials believe the U.S.-Ukraine rare earth metals agreement is a more realistic form of deterrence because it will lead to U.S. economic interests and personnel in Ukraine.
European states are preparing their peace plan without any dialogue with Moscow. European states continue to refuse to talk to Russian President Putin and are suspicious of the Trump administration’s diplomacy with Russia. They also insist that they have “seats at the table” during any negotiations with Russia or Ukraine. According to a member of a leading European think tank, European leaders are especially determined to be present at any U.S.-Ukraine-Russia peace talks to ensure there is a reasonable agreement and to put Ukraine in a better bargaining position to reject a bad deal.
However, it appears that the real reason why European leaders want to be at the negotiating table is because they do not trust President Trump and his peace efforts, even though they did nothing to stop the war before Trump won the 2024 election.
According to Trump administration officials, the state of play for a ceasefire in the Ukraine War is promising. There are ongoing behind-the-scenes talks with Ukraine and Russia. Formal U.S.-Ukraine talks will be held soon. U.S. suspensions of military aid and intelligence to Ukraine are reportedly temporary and will be lifted if Zelensky cooperates with U.S. peace efforts.
European states can best bring peace to Ukraine by fully supporting President Trump’s peace efforts and not by pursuing parallel plans that could undermine them. The UK/French peace plan, which may soon be presented to President Trump, might be somewhat helpful, but the real effort to stop the fighting is being conducted by Trump’s envoys. The European plan could end up being a distraction, especially because it is being drafted by Europe and Ukraine with no consultations with Russia. The UK and France should drop the deterrence force idea from their plan and instead focus on how to form and sustain a peacekeeping mission to Ukraine.
Keeping Zelensky on board with Trump’s peace efforts will continue to be a challenge. Any ceasefire agreement will require Ukraine to make some painful compromises. Europe can help by working with the U.S. to prepare the fairest deal possible and helping convince Zelensky to agree to it. Europe also must encourage the Ukrainian leader to fully cooperate with U.S. peace efforts and not tolerate or celebrate any further defiance by him.
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Fred Fleitz previously served as National Security Council chief of staff, CIA analyst, and a House Intelligence Committee staff member.
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